Crown throat



Nov. 5, 1935., JLKANTOR 2,@19 825 GROWN THROAT Filed Oct. 20, 1930 INVENTOR Jkmea Kamila;

ATTORN EY5 Patented Nov. 5, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CROWN THROAT Application October 20, 1930, Serial No. 489,777

6 Claims.

The present application relates to crown throats for bottle crowning machines, and the primary object thereof is to provide a throat which shall be of such character as to avoid sub- 5 stantially all possibility of breaking bottles because of excess size of the necks, and further to provide a throat of such character as to permit easy release of the crowned bottle mouth. Furtner objects of the invention will appear as the description proceeds.

To the accomplishment of the above and related objects, my invention may be embodied in the form illustrated in the accompanying drawing, attention being called to the fact, however, that the drawing is illustrative only, and that change may be made in the specific construction illustrated and described, so long as the scope of the appended claims is not violated.

20 In said drawing,

Fig. 1 is a partial section of a portion of a bottle crowning machine embodying the throat of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the throat;

25 Fig. 3 is a plan thereof;

Fig. 4 is a side elevation, partly in section, of one element of the throat; and

Fig. 5 is a similar View of another element of the throat.

v30 In the operation of bottle crowning machines,

a problem that is always encountered is created by the fact that the mouths or necks of bottles are not absolutely uniform in size. According to established practice, the mouth of a bottle, having a cap loosely mounted thereon, is forced into a throat, either by movement of the bottle, or by movement of the throat, the internal diameter of the throat being such as to crimp the rim of the cap about the bead provided on the bot- 40 tle. If the bottle mouth is oversize, and if the throat is rigid, obviously the bottle will be broken. Another difliculty experienced in the operation of the bottle crowning machines has to do with the removal of the bottle mouth from the throat 45 after the crown has been crimped thereon. A spring pressed plunger is usually provided for forcing the bottle mouth out of the throat, but obviously it is desirable to use as light a spring as possible for this opeartion. As obviously, if a 5 rigid throat is used, a heavy spring must be provided to force the bottle out of the throat.

Both of these difiiculties have been overcome by the construction illustrated in the accompanying drawing. Referring more particularly to 55 the drawing, it will be seen that I have illustrated a portion III of a crowning machine, said portion carrying what may be termed a base member H, said member being formed with an aperture 12 in its lower surface. Preferably a guide plate l3 formed with an aperture l4 registering with the aperture I2 is secured to said base member, said guide plate being provided with a plurality of guide fingers I5, in accordance with previously known practice. The machine is preferably provided with a channel I6 10 through which caps I! are supplied.

An element N3 of the machine is formed with a bore coaxial with the aperture l2, and in said bore there may be mounted a bushing 19 in which is slidably mounted a plunger 20. The plunger is preferably provided with a collar 2| integral therewith, or rigidity secured thereto, upon which bears a compression spring 22. The lower end of the plunger 20 may carry a head 23 which may be one of an interchangeable set. 20

According to the present invention, there is mounted between the element l8 and the lower portion of the base member H a crown throat comprising an annular element 24 formed with a substantially cylindrical inner surface 25, and 25 made up of a plurality of segments 26. The outer surface of the annulus 24 is formed .as an upwardly tapered frusto-conical surface 21.. The bushing l9 may enter the bore of the member v24 to center the same and to position said annulus in coaxial relation with the aperture l2.

The crown throat also comprises a second annulus 28 formed with an inner upwardly tapering frusto-conical surface 29 conforming to: the shape of the surface 21 of the element 24. The 5 annulus 28 is likewise made up of a plurality of segments 3!], the lines of juncture between said elements 30 coinciding with the lines of juncture between the elements 26 of the annulus 24. Resilient means are provided for resisting .radial expansion of the annulus 28, and I prefer to use a helical spring, suchas is illustrated-at 31 in the drawing. Obviously, a plurality of radially expansible spring rings might be used, or a single spring of any desired characteristics might be used, in place of the helical spring 3 l.

Threadedly secured to, and depending from, the element i8 is an annular guide member 35 formed with an inturned flange 36 defining a guide aperture 31, the internal diameter of which is substantially greater than the external diameter of the spring 3|. Said guide element is operative to prevent complete misalinement of the crown throat with the aperture l2, while permitting suificient shifting thereof to accommodate the throat to the necks of bottles which are introduced thereinto.

While the operation of the disclosed device will be obvious, it may be summarized as follows.- A cap I! being positioned as shownintheaperture l2, the mouth of a bottle is forced upwardly through the aperture l4 and into cooperative relation with the cap 11. As the bottle is forced farther upwardly, the'cap comes into contact with the head 23 and the plunger 29 is moved upwardly against the tendency of the spring 22, thus compressing said spring. As the cap I! enters the bore 25 of the element 24, the rim of said cap is crimped about the bead on the bottle, it being obvious that, if the bottle is oversize, the segments of the annuli 24 and 28 will be separated, overcoming the tendency of the spring 3 I, whereby the bore 25 of the element 24 is expanded. After the cap has been crimped in place, the supporting element for the bottle is allowed to fall and the spring 22 tends to move the plunger downwardly. Such movement of the plunger forces the bottle also downwardly and, because of the frictional engagement of the cap with the annulus 24, and because the annulus 24 is proportioned as shown, said annulus is also caused to move downwardly until its base 32 comes into contact with the base member ll. As will be obvious, such movement of the annulus 24 moves the surface 21 thereof out of contact with the surface 29 of the annulus 23, thus freeing the annulus 24 from the effect of the spring 3|, and permitting expansion of the annulus 24 to permit a free removal of the bottle mouth therefrom.

I claim as my invention:

1. As a new article of manufacture, a crown throat comprising a segmental annulus having its outer periphery tapered substantially throughout its length, a second segmental annulus surrounding said first annulus and having its inner periphery tapered substantially throughout its length to correspond to the external shape of said first annulus, said annuli being normally out of contact with each other, and means associated with said second annulus and resiliently retaining the segments thereof in engagement with each other.

2. As a new article of manufacture, a crown throat comprising a radially expansible annulus having its outer periphery tapered, the interior dimensions of said annulus being the same from end to end to present an unobstructed opening therethrough, a second radially expansible annulus surrounding said first annulus and having its inner periphery tapered to correspond to the external shape of said first annulus, and means associated with said second annulus and resiliently retaining the same in its condition of maximum contraction, said first annulus being axially movable into and out of a position wherein expansion thereof is resisted by said resilient means.

3. In a bottle crowning machine, a base having an aperture therethrough, a crown throat supported on said base in registry with said aperture, a spring-pressed plunger normally disposed in said throat and adapted to be moved against the tendency of its spring by the projection of the mouth of a bottle into said throat, said throat comprising a radially expansible element, means resiliently resisting expansion of said element during spring-pompressing movement of such bottle, and means interposed between said firstnamed means and said element and operable to 1 prevent said resilient means from opposing expansion of said element during movement of such bottle in the opposite direction.

4. In a bottle-crowning machine, a crown throat comprising a radially expansible element 1 having an opening therethrough of the same dimensions from end to end adapted to receive the mouth of a bottle to clamp a cap thereon, means resiliently resisting expansion of said element during relative movement of said throat and bottle mouth in one direction, and means automatically operative, during relative movement thereof in the opposite direction to render said firstnamed means ineffective to resist such expansion.

5. In a bottle crowning machine, a base having an aperture therethrough, and a crown throat supported on said base, said throat comprising a radially expansible element resting on said base, means associated with said element and resiliently resisting expansion thereof, said element 3 having its inner surface tapered upwardly, and a second radially expansible element formed with a socket registering with said aperture and having its outer surface tapered upwardly to correspond to the inner surface of said first element, 3 said second element being of such dimensions that its external surface engages the internal surface of said first element only when said second element is lifted out of contact with said base.

6. In a bottle crowning machine, an apertured base, a guide concentric with the aperture in said base, and a crown throat supported on said base and guided by said guide, said crown throat comprising an outer annulus made up of a plu- 4 rality of segments normally held in mutually con-v tacting relation by a contractile spring surrounding said annulus, said segments cooperating to form an upwardly tapering annular internal surface, and the external circumference of 5 said spring being substantially less than the internal circumference of said guide; and an inner annulus made up of a plurality of cooperating segments, said segments forming, when in mutually contacting relation, an annulus having an 4 upwardly tapering external surface and a substantially cylindrical internal surface defining a bore having a diameter equal to the diameter of a bottle cap after crimping; the external surface of said inner annulus, when said inner an- 6 nulus is resting on said base, being spaced from the internal surface of said outer annulus.

JAMES KANTOR. 

